In general, there may be various methods in semiconductor industry for forming one or more layers over a wafer or over a semiconductor carrier, e.g. during manufacture of a die, a chip, or an integrated circuit. The specific demands on the properties (e.g. chemical or physical properties, as for example specific electrical conductivity, hardness, chemical composition, microstructure, surface roughness) of the one or more layers to be formed over the wafer may be specified by the desired functionality of the layers itself or may be specified by the specific function of the layers provided within an electronic structure. The properties of the layers formed over a carrier in semiconductor technology may be brought consistent with the effort, the costs and benefits. A variety of different layers, materials, and deposition methods may be used in semiconductor processing. However, due to the complexity of the layer manufacturing processes they cannot be easily transferred from one process to another process.
Currently, highly ionized pulse plasma (HIPP) processes, e.g. high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS), high power pulse magnetron sputtering (HPPMS), modulated pulse power sputtering (MPP), or other highly ionized deposition methods (HIS, highly ionized sputtering), e.g. cathodic arc deposition, may be currently used for depositing thin films or layers.